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Naduesh
“We do not know what our ancient ancestors’ purposes truly were. We have only the tools they made to realize those purposes.” –aphorism dictated by Paracelcus Thule Naduesh is a human-inhabited world planet of hot, dry plains and enormous, sprawling megacities that are now little more than ruins but which speak of an awesome and now lost technological achievement. The mega-cities of Naduesh are maze-like warrens beneath an arching dome supported by huge pillars and walls set with massive bastions. Every part of the whole is set with structures that cling like gargoyles and riddled by vaults and tunnels. The bulk of the planet’s population follows a tribal existence away from the cyclopean mega-cities, following herds of herbivores that sustain and clothe them while viciously warring with each other for honor and bloody sport. The people of Naduesh have little understanding of the relics of technology left behind in these ruins, and seem unable to fully rebuild their society. The sounds and structure of the Nadueshi culture indicate a distant root in High Gothic and tie the population and its ruined mega-cities to a now lost age of Mankind. The most influential of the human population on Naduesh dwells in Marajur, an immense enclosure of ruins thirty kilometers broad and three kilometers from ground wreckage to crumbling vaults high above. The interior space of Marajur gapes empty between its support pillars, and the curved ceiling vaults are set with enormous mosaics. The entire structure is large enough for its own weather systems, the haze of distant wall-bastions broken by white clouds and sudden warm showers. As awe-inspiring as it is Marajur is a shadow of its former self: its base structures are ruined, its upper vault braces failing. With each passing year another of the upper vault structures tumbles down. Despite its fallen status, Naduesh is used as supply point by many human renegades and outlaws in search of provender beyond the reach of would-be hunters, trading weapons and slaves in return for livestock and fresh recruits from the planet’s feral warriors. Naduesh is still advanced enough for usury, complex trade arrangements, paper currency, and promissory scrip backed by the word and wealth of noble Maraj families. 'Overview' “Build a planet? A whole planet? That’s madness! Not even the God-Emperor, blessed be His name, would attempt something so foolish.” –Rogue Trader Roan Palanthas, on the stories of Naduesh Naduesh, the lone habitable planet in a small, empty star system, is a feral world in the Heathen Stars region used as a victualing and resupply port for passing voidships. It is an arid world of broad, dusty plains and simmering deserts. The world’s topography is curiously uniform, and is dominated not by majestic mountain ranges or vast, rolling seas, but by man-made edifices. The crumbling remains of ancient hive cities thousands of kilometers across span the entire planet, and fully two-thirds of the land lies in the shadow of their shattered domes. The whole planet is a single landmass punctuated here and there by deep, broad, freshwater lakes. The flora and fauna of the planet seem somehow more alive, more vibrant than that on other worlds. Indeed, the entire place has a vague and unsettlingly artificial feel to it, as if the planet wasn’t formed from the primordial mass of the universe but built by some unseen hand. Everything seems built to please the senses, an idealized expression of stone or wind or beasts. Among the ghostly, echoing hives and oddly perfect creatures dwells a debased race of tall, lanky humans who call themselves the Nadueshi. A primitive tribal people, they eke out a living among the bones of their ancestors as nomadic herdsmen. They live a simple life on the plains, possessing no technology more advanced than a spear or harness and driving their placid herbivorous beasts from camp to camp, never staying in one place too long and rarely, if ever, entering the ruined hives. While certainly feral, the Nadueshi are not so debased as to lack language or culture. They frequently trade with the pirates and Rogue Traders who come to the surface for water and victuals, and there are wild and varied reports as to the hospitality and folkways of these curious people. There are a few common threads spun throughout the wild rumors of cannibalism and human sacrifice that surround the Nadueshi, however. They speak a lilting, strangely cadenced language in which some listeners detect High Gothic words and structures. Their oral and there is a complacency in their ignorance of these ancestors that suggests a distinct lack of interest in the subject. Those who have explored the abandoned cities report they are covered by massive, powerfully constructed domes towering three kilometers high, built of reinforced plascrete and parchment-thin glass that is harder than diamond. The shattered domes are supported by rusted buttresses a kilometer high mounted in armored bulwarks forty meters thick. The buildings are square-shouldered, unlovely things more suited to a military base than a soaring metropolis, and indeed they all have a martial, fortress-like air about them. The few who have braved the deadly, crumbling underhives report even greater discoveries---huge arcane arrays of machinery, vast banks of histories carry no record of their obviously advanced forebears, slumbering cogitator arrays, underground caverns a kilometer long that look for all the world like barracks, armories, marshalling yards and immense gun emplacements mounted with macrocannons large enough to hull a battleship in high orbit. Some say the underhives go on forever, that they burrow straight to the heart of Naduesh, that every meter is packed with complex machinery, and that Naduesh isn’t even a planet at all. 'A Safe Haven' For centuries now pirates, renegades, and Rogue Traders alike have been stopping here to resupply while crossing the spinward regions of the Expanse and the Heathen Stars. A number of favorable factors have made Naduesh a premier victualing world. The system is relatively isolated and free of major navigation hazards. The warp surrounding the system is eerily calm, with unusually stable currents and few reported storms or lost ships. This makes the planet easy to get to, and there are numerous sheltered anchorages scattered around the system in which to hide or effect repairs. While the great ruins of the Nadueshi’s ancestors are striking and draw their share of treasure seekers and curious tech-priests, they are not the only thing the planet has to offer. Indeed it possesses quite possibly the most precious of commodities for passing voidships: clean, fresh water. Naduesh’s broad, deep lakes provide a near endless supply of uncontaminated water, a fact that has been taken advantage of by generations of voidmen. Along with the water, there is also much in the way of provender to be had. Nearly every fruit, nut, or root that grows on Naduesh is edible, and vast herds of wild herbivorous beasts a million strong wander the plains and make for excellent eating. Some voidmen have witnessed this bounty and stated that it’s almost as if everything about the planet was designed with the comfort and convenience of men in mind. There is also a brisk trade here among the native Nadueshi and the “Sky Men” as they call the visiting voidmen. Voidships bring slaves, high-tech weapons, ammunition, tools and trinkets to trade for conscripts, women, foodstuffs and ancient Nadueshi artefacts. The Nadueshi also produce and trade ornate metal jewelry, and a small but fervent market for their tribal finery has sprung up among the neighboring systems. There is great money-making potential here for a keen Rogue Trader. The ancient, abandoned hives are doubtless still full of archeotech artefacts, and most of the labyrinthine underhives remain uncharted and unexploited. The native herbivores are hardy and would make an excellent trade commodity, especially with nearby systems such as Zayth (which has little ability to raise its own foodstuffs). There are also millions of heathen souls on Naduesh who need to be brought into the fold and shown the righteous light and power of the God-Emperor. These are but a few of the opportunities to be found on Naduesh, and it would be an unimaginative Rogue Trader indeed who couldn’t make at least a small fortune exploiting the planet and its natural resources. 'Rumors and Lies' There are as many rumours about Naduesh, its history, and its strange people as there are voidmen to tell them. Here are just a few of the more common tales told in shipyards and public houses throughout the Expanse. *Members of the Magos Biologis have reported that the beasts and plants of Naduesh posses uncommonly pure genetic codes. They seem to exhibit few of the mutations or genetic dead-ends typically brought about by natural selection. *In the initial survey of Naduesh after its discovery, the survey team leader reported a strange anomaly in the planet’s rotation. It is almost perfectly circular around its star, and it’s axis of rotation seems very close to completely perpendicular with the plane of its solar system. *A Rogue Trader named Keiran Haan claims to have possibly caught a glimpse of the planet’s history in the Nadueshi capital of Marajur. During a tour of the city, she became separated from her guide and found herself in what she took to be a chapel. Three of the walls were decorated with frescoes of people resembling the Nadueshi performing various tasks. The fourth wall was dominated by huge mural of four humans---one carrying the equipment of a scientist or researcher, another armed and armored as a warrior, the third bearing tools as if a laborer or engineer, and the last wearing finery evocative of a noble or government functionary. They were standing around a large globe that resembled Naduesh itself. Once reunited with her native guide, he could not, or would not, elaborate on the meaning of the murals. *Rumors in Footfall’s taverns say that every so often, a vessel approaching Naduesh is challenged by vox-hails in an unknown language. If the ship responds, they sometimes hear a brief squeal of code, then nothing but static. This is dismissed as impossible by those who have visited the planet---the natives are too primitive for vox technology. *The Nadueshi have a legend that speaks of an unnamed horror attacking their ancestors from the stars, only to be swallowed by a god that dwells deep within the planet and speaks through the very stones themselves. *Some claim that the entire planet was constructed as a trap and laid in the system for some unknown stellar foe. If so, has the trap has been sprung---perhaps its prey is held deep within the planet---or is it still armed and waiting? 'Using Naduesh' Naduesh provides Explorers with a location to rest and provision during their adventures amongst the Expanse, and the Heathen Stars in particular. The world is habitable and has a native human population, which means a Rogue Trader could use it to reprovision his ship’s food stocks, or restore his crew’s Morale. In particular, the inhabitants of Naduesh have domesticated a beast similar to the Mukaali of Tallarn that can be used either as a beast of burden or a food source. On occasion, enterprising Rogue Traders have traded these animals across the Heathen Stars. Naduesh can also be used to replenish Crew Population if the Explorers are willing to recruit from amongst the tribes. Of course, the Nadueshi are a feral people, unused to living amongst the stars and unfamiliar with even the most basic Imperial technologies, so most would only be good as low-decks crew. In general, obtaining crew means an Acquisition Test with a Scarce modifier, and a successful test will only restore 12 points of Crew Population on vessels smaller than a light cruiser, and 6 on ships of light cruiser size and larger. In addition, there are several potential endeavours possible on Naduesh, as suggested above. Each of these would likely be lesser Endeavours, except for converting the inhabitants to worship the God-Emperor. This would be a Greater Endeavour, if a Rogue Trader could convince the Ministorum of its value. 'Unique Equipment' Force Weapons Tech-Priest Explorator teams sifting through the archeotech ruins of Naduesh have unearthed numerous caches of dazzling and disturbing devices, including many whose nature and purpose is still a mystery. Given the number of possibly valuable items still to be comprehended it is understandable that the finely made but otherwise ordinary-looking swords, axes, and melee weapons were simply put aside. It was not until visiting adept-psykers of the Ordo Xenos realized the true measure of these weapons that intensive searches began for more. Further studies seem to indicate these are ancient devices, possibly stemming from the Dark Age of Technology, but the foul taint of xenos construction cannot be ruled out. It was impossible to keep the discovery secret for long, and these weapons have become a highly-valuable commodity throughout the Expanse, and some raiders attack any vessel that carries them, simply to steal them away. For many a psyker-warrior, possessing a Naduesh blade is the mark of true power in both body and mind. For those wishing a more subtle visage, a simple rod or staff can channel their power to devastating effect, as well as focus their abilities to greater levels. Naduesh Force Axe Favored by the more robust and physical psykers, Force Axes offer tremendous sheer power but little in the way of finesse or subtlety. For those that use them, these weapons aptly indicate their mode of attack, and often their lifestyle as well. Melee, 1d10+3(+SB), R, PEN 3, Force, Unbalanced, WT 8kg, Near Unique Naduesh Force Staff Longer-length force weapons typically take the form of a staff, and they can be used as a weapon in regular combat. Some are fashioned to appear as a simple walking staff, only giving away their real function as psychic powers are channeled through them. Force Staffs also act as a Psy-Focus. Melee, 1dd10, I, PEN 2, Force, WT 2kg, Near Unique Naduesh Force Sword On the surface, force swords look just like any regular sword, albeit of unusual coloration. It is only upon closer inspection that the tiny but elaborate runes appear, giving away their arcane nature. Most psykers are not skilled fighters, but for those who are, a force sword is the perfect weapon as it allows them to fully use both their psychic as well as martial abilities. Melee, 1d10+1, R, PEN 2, Balanced, Force, WT 5kg, Near Unique Category:Frontier Worlds Category:Koronus Expanse Category:Planets Category:Heathen Stars